Hallownest High
by CurlyFriDays
Summary: High School AU A high school esque telling of Hollow Knight. Not completely inserted into the High School AU, but it's enough. Not the full game. As it is Hollow Knight, it will get into darker themes. [Spoilers for Dream No More and some of Embrace The Void]
1. Chapter 1

**An:**

-I'm not humanizing them, just imagine the actual characters

-slight story elements will be changed to keep the story flowing.

A school of prestige and of renown. Or at least it was. Until the incident. Well you see, our story starts way before now. The school's first principal.

Ms. Radiance.

~

Ms. Radiance, she was interesting. Always going on about how a hive mind was the best mind. Her way was the best way. And the only way.

Until, hope for the students, the Pale Principal. He got Ms. Radiance fired, it seems her way was too dangerous to preach impressionable kids.

The Pale Principal took over. Hallownest High flourished. Ratings went up, and people were happy. Though the dark secret was this.

The Pale Principal had many, many children. And he used them to keep Ms. Radiance away.

Children born, and children dead. This was the Pale Principal's secret.

Until eventually, a child that was capable of keeping Ms. Radiance away

Hunter King. No one is quite sure how he kept Ms. Radiance away. Perhaps it was the crooks of his horns. Or perhaps it was how he had been trained to keep people away. Or it could be magic. No one knows except for the Pale Principal himself.

In order to make sure Ms. Radiance was kept away indefinitely, the Pale Principal made deals.

A dalliance, with Ms. Herrah Hunter. In exchange for a child, she would agree. Surprisingly, The Pale Principal's wife, the White Lady, she was okay with the dalliance, she saw it was needed, people say she is a direct descendant of noble blood. Now Herrah Hunter sleeps.

All for letting Hallownest High keep running, Ms. Lady Monomon, the science teacher, agreed to the deal. She sleeps too.

To preserve the beauty of Hallownest High, Mr. Lurien Watcher, the philosophy teacher, agreed. Now he sleeps too.

So many children, so many who failed the trial. Now only few remain.

The child of the dalliance. Hornet Hunter-King. A fierce warrior in the hallways. Fighting the strong, and dissing the weak. No one knows of her birth, except for her parents, and her only surviving half sibling, Hunter King.

Hunter King is always hidden away. No one knows where he is. Perhaps he is on an elongated mission to keep Ms. Radiance far, far away.

A new student. Who looks like one Hunter King. And all of the now dead, like all the things other dead siblings.

Ghost [Redacted].

A new student who quickly rises up the ranks of Hallownest High. The student who never speaks. Or perhaps can't speak, like the 'pure' siblings. Hunter King was deemed pure, though he could speak. Curiouser and curiouser.

Though, Hunter King did disappear during his elder years. Few remember him growing up, and few remember him disappearing. Some say he's locked up in the Pale Principal's office, ever vigilant to keeping Ms. Radiance away.

~

Ghost walked through the halls, constantly fending off bullies, dubbed 'The Infected' by the victims. Contact damage was the worst.

Everyday was an adventure at Hallownest High, though, you could get lost. Repeatedly. And then plus some.

Ghost found a bench, and rested. Checking their map, they realized they were in the Queen's Gardens.

Why not. It seemed to be time to fight the resident big boss bully.

'Traitor Lord' he was dubbed. And, every hit he got he got off, made you get twice the damage.

Ghost fought. And wacked. And fought. And dodged. Until, a girl named Cloth showed up. Inspired by Ghost's beating down of other bullies, Cloth wanted to do the same.

Together, Ghost and Cloth beat Traitor Lord, until finally, the final blows were given.

Holding Cloth in the air, Traitor Lord slammed Cloth to the ground, but as she flew towards the ground, Cloth raised her fist and gave Traitor Lord a blow a top his head.

But her momentum could not stop, Cloth fell to the ground, unconscious. In an almost cartoonesque way, Traitor Lord fell backwards.

Ghost continued on their way. There were paths to explore.

**An:**

-Hunter King is The Hollow Knight by the way


	2. Chapter 2

Ghost reached the end of the path. Down a long hallway they went, until, the room opened up.

The Pale Principal's wife, The White Lady.

All Ghost could do was look up and listen to the noblewoman.

"Oh! One arrives. Far it walks to find me. Did it seek my aid? Or did the path carry it by chance to so pertinant a place?"

"It is true. True, that you were awaited. No. Perhaps that is inaccurate. True one like you was awaited."

"I have a gift, held long for one of your kind. Half of a whole. When united, great power is granted, and on the path ahead, great power it will need."

**_White Fragment gained._**

"Within my roots, the weakening of the Vessel I plainly feel. Only two obvious outcomes there are from such a thing."

"The first is inevitable on current course, regression, all minds relinquished to that pernicious plague."

"The second I find preferable, and would seek your aid in its occurrence, replacement."

"I implore you, usurp the Vessel. Its supposed strength was ill-judged. It was tarnished by an idea instilled. But you. You are free of such blemishes. You could contain that thing inside.

I'll offer fair warning. The Vessel may itself be weak, but it is much empowered by that force within."

"To claim its role requires strength of some magnitude. Prepare yourself well before attempting the task."

Ghost having an idea of what to do, turned and left.

~

The Palace Grounds. A fallen void soldier on the ground, Essence floating around.

Seer, the cryptid of the school, had told Ghost to use this hallucinogen to see into others dreams. To further Hallownest High

The hallucinogen was injected.

Needless to say, this place was gorgeous.

The White Palace. The Pale Principal's office.

Though it was gorgeous, the architecture could be fixed.

There were thorns, wrapped everywhere. Spikes, the shank of the blades made you want to go insane. The buzzsaws, the pesky plates of death. Whirring, wondering if you could move out if the way in time.

Eventually, Ghost made it to the top of the Palace. The Pale Principal's corpse lie on his chair. It seems this school was more deadly than it seemed.

**_Achieved Kingsoul._**

Endless soul. Two halves of the one, now joined together into the one. soul. The souls of a principal and of a lady.

Ghost had no where else to go, so they decided to go to the basement, dubbed 'The Abyss.' The students said that the Pale Principal had many more children. And said that they were all in the abyss. Dead children.

Ghost stood on the precipice of The Abyss.

They jumped.

**An:**-the White Lady's lines were taken directly from the game. I used the Hollow Knight wiki.


	3. Chapter 3

Ghost fell. And fell. And fell. And fell. It wasn't called the Abyss for nothing.

Eventually, Ghost reached the bottom.

They walked on the bottom for a moment, until some skulls moved. Ghost jumped, and the floor gave way.

The skulls gave way.

What was this school hiding? Ghost dropped into a cavern made of skulls. Twisting and turning paths. Spikes. You could get lost in this labrythine maze.

Until, Ghost reached a cracked sphere.

Why not, they thought. The hallucinogen was injected.

**_No cost too great._**

Ghost woke up. There was no where else to go but up. Jump and jump. Monarch wings. A jump here. Avoiding a spike there.

Corpses falling.

**_No mind to think._**

There's so many bodies.

**_No will to break._**

When will the bodies stop falling?

**_No voice to cry suffering._**

So many kids.

**_Born of God and Void._**

Until finally, the final monarch winged jump.

Ghost hung on the edge of the cliff. The Pale Principal walked away. Hunter King walked forward, looked back at Ghost. Hunter King walked forward. Ghost slipped.

The door slammed closed.

Ghost fell back into the dark below.

**_Collected the Void Heart._**

Ghost awoke next to the cracked sphere.

Ghost was now Ghost King. A child who had survived the filicide of the Pale Principal.

It was time. Time to end the suffering of Hallownest High.


	4. Chapter 4

**An:**

-slight mixing of Dream No More and Embrace The Void endings

The dreamers had slept since the Pale Principals take over. It was time to wake them up.

One by one Ghost tracked the dreamers down. And one by one, their essence collected. Now, no one sleeps.

~

Dubbed 'The Black Egg', this was where Ghost stood.

Hornet, a result of the dalliance, said she would not go into the egg. It would drain her. But if an opportunity presented itself, she would come and help.

Ghost walked in.

~

The lost Hunter King. He had grown. But he was sick. Ghost intended to fix that.

The fight was unlike anything Ghost had seen before. Constantly having to dodge. Trying to get a hit in. It was the fight of a lifetime. The fight for the fate of Hallownest High.

Until finally, Ghost got in a blow that allowed Hornet to come in and restrain Hunter.

Essence floated out.

The hallucinogen was injected.

Transported to the mind of Hunter King.

Up the platforms, and to the challenge.

~

If Hunter King was a a fight of a lifetime. Then fighting Ms. Radiance was the fight of a century.

Sweeping beams of light. Homing projectiles. Spiked floor. Ms. Radiance had prepared well.

All the while, the fight climbed in elevation.

Lasers sweeping the platforms.

Finally, the last blow.

Hunter King's dream self, and Ghost's dream self appeared. Slapping Ms. Radiance into oblivion.

Why did you curse us so? You poisoned us with your anger.

The dead siblings dream self appeared. Cheering silently. Finally ending the reign of the Infected. Letting Hallownest High into a new era.

Ms. Radiance exploded into essence.

~

Hornet awoke in the egg, void and infection shriveling away.

Ghost lie there, mission accomplished. But at what cost? For Hallownest High? It worked for Ghost. So it would work for Hornet.

Hallownest High would go into a new dawn, prospering, not letting their history inhibit them.


End file.
